England's middle order has been in the news lately, and for all the wrong reasons: in six innings at Headingley, their Nos. 3, 4 and 5 scored a grand total of 16 runs, the fewest for England in matches in which the team played both innings, thus allowing Australia to exact revenge for the humiliation they had suffered 113 years ago (almost to the day), when their three middle-order batsmen scored the same number of runs at The Oval. (That isn't the record, though, for the fewest runs scored by Nos. 3, 4 and 5 in a Test - South Africa's three batsmen scored 10 fewer runs against England in 1955.)

The likes of Graham Thorpe and Kevin Pietersen have done their bit to boost the stock of the England middle order since 2000, but for the most part they've still been a below-par unit. During this period, England's Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 have a combined average of 38.57, with 80 centuries from 126 Tests. England have also used 37 players during this period, which is second only to West Indies' 40.

Australia, the leaders of the pack, have only used 25 middle-order batsmen for the 110 Tests they've played since 2000, and they've averaged 49.41, more than 10 runs higher than England. Also, in 16 fewer Tests than England, they've notched up 18 more centuries. India's power-packed middle order is next, and the stability of their line-up is obvious from the fact that only 24 batsmen have occupied these slots, the fewest among all teams. Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan follow closely, but England are better than only three teams - New Zealand, whose lower order has often bailed them out with the bat, and Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Middle order (Nos. 3 to 6) of each team since 2000

Team

No. of batsmen

Tests

Runs

Average

100s/ 50s

Australia

25

110

31,278

49.41

98/ 138

India

24

100

27,988

46.88

67/ 137

Sri Lanka

26

91

25, 136

46.03

65/ 106

Pakistan

31

79

22,753

45.87

67/ 94

South Africa

29

106

27,379

44.01

72/ 132

West Indies

40

105

27,266

39.63

65/ 133

England

37

126

30,863

38.57

80/ 151

New Zealand

30

75

16,795

35.28

32/ 83

Zimbabwe

30

44

9843

32.59

16/ 50

Bangladesh

34

61

10,558

22.75

9/ 51

England's numbers have been pulled down by several batsmen who played in the middle order for reasonably long periods but performed with far less distinction than their counterparts in other top teams. Alec Stewart's wicketkeeping was admittedly a huge bonus, but he averaged only 32 in 56 innings when he batted in the middle order. Mark Ramprakash, who has been the flavour of the week for a nation desperately looking for a saviour, wasn't much better, averaging 32.47 in 17 tries. Andrew Flintoff's batting abilities probably warranted a No. 7 slot, but he batted higher than that quite often, and averaged less than 33. Nasser Hussain brought plenty to the table with his dogged leadership qualities, but as a batsman his numbers are clearly less than exceptional. The stats are somewhat similar for the man who succeeded him as captain: Michael Vaughan had a couple of outstanding series as batsman, but over the course of his career he failed to do justice to his potential.

England's middle-order batsmen (Nos. 3 to 6) who average less than 40 (Qual: 10 innings, since 2000)

Batsman

Innings

Runs

Average

100s/ 50s

Graeme Hick

14

264

18.85

1/ 0

Owais Shah

10

269

26.90

0/ 2

Robert Key

23

694

31.54

1/ 3

Alec Stewart

56

1632

32.00

3/ 8

Mark Ramprakash

17

552

32.47

1/ 1

Andrew Flintoff

70

2111

32.98

3/ 17

Ravi Bopara

14

468

33.42

3/ 0

Nasser Hussain

89

2846

35.13

6/ 20

Michael Vaughan

70

2507

37.98

8/ 9

Among the ones who did justice to their place in the middle order are Thorpe, Pietersen and Paul Collingwood. Thorpe had 25 fifty-plus knocks in 74 innings, while Pietersen averaged more than 50 till his last Test, when a tally of 76 runs in two innings brought his career average down to 49.96.

The two other batsmen who've averaged more than 40 during this period are Mark Butcher and Ian Bell. Butcher scored only six hundreds in 71 innings, but three of those came against Australia and South Africa. Bell has an average of 40.94 in his 81 innings in the middle order, but against Australia his average drops to 24.60. Butcher, on the other hand, averaged 40.73 against the Aussies.

England's middle-order batsmen (Nos. 3 to 6) who average more than 40 (Qual: 10 innings, since 2000)

Batsman

Innings

Runs

Average

100s/ 50s

Graham Thorpe

74

3145

53.30

10/ 15

Alastair Cook

12

578

52.54

2/ 2

John Crawley

13

454

50.44

1/ 2

Kevin Pietersen

97

4647

49.96

16/ 15

Paul Collingwood

87

3455

44.29

9/ 15

Mark Butcher

71

2731

41.37

6/ 17

Ian Bell

81

2948

40.94

8/ 19

Looking at more detailed middle-order stats against the best team during this period, it's clear that England's batsmen have mostly underperformed. India lead the way in terms of averages against Australia since 2000 - among the middle-order batsmen, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid all average more than 45, with Laxman averaging 61.24. South Africa are next, with AB de Villiers averaging an outstanding 75, while Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy both average more than 45. England are in sixth place, with an average almost 13 runs fewer than India's. Pietersen is the only one to have played more than three Tests against Australia and average more than 45.

England's numbers are still much better than Pakistan's, whose middle order averages a meagre 26. They've only played six Tests against Australia during this period, though, while India have played 20 and England 24.

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